The weather is sweet

Im calling it, my birthday has bought a ton of snow, it started yesterday and its pretty much never stopped. Avoriaz is burried in powder! its amazing! So wish I had a GoPro so I could film my riding, its getting sick! I literally had people stop and watch the line I took up a huge snow wall/bank. This was a proud moment for me haha!

That! and I very nearly pulled off a BS180. full rotation there just didnt quite land it :( but hey ho, first ever attempt and first actual trick, better still it was BackSide not FrontSide, the harder of the two. Never did Start on the easy option haha.

Anyway Im actually falling asleep at the laptop so a full update will come tomorrow (day off woo) last nights drinking/birthday escapades coupled with a whole day session up the mountain has knackered me out. Therefore im leaving you with just this picture tonight.

Somewhere in some trees in Avoriaz. A whole playground to myself.

Its My Birthday

and its gonna be messy! so no time to chat im afraid, ill update you all tomorrow! so enjoy this picture taken from the top of Pleney, I hope I previously havent uploaded this, if so fail on me haha.

Btw facebook friends, like a pic i uploaded so I can win a Gopro, or buy me one, either is cool :D

Flying high

Today wasnt AS good as yesterday due to it generally being a whiteout but Ive been here long enough to know which runs will be good regardless so I had a blast nonetheless :D its becoming a playground now, where I want to go Im going. happy days!

Sadly my helmet has truly met its end as my repair was shattered in a tumble and the part was lost into the abyss soo thats the end of that. Im becoming sick of replacing my equipment now haha. AH well, helmet shopping tomorrow! good job its pay day!

Anyhow no specific images to show you today so have a ganders at some various ones.

 

 

Fly Like an Eagle 2

Well I promise another update of todays shinanigans. YES! there was a ton more snow and it was glorious. However, what made it all the sweeter was it was dead! people assumed it was a whiteout and pissed off to Les Gets, but I knew it would be clear in Avoriaz and it was. So quiet slopes and lots of snow, what more could I ask for?! Riding in it was amazing, no sound you just glided through it :D

So sticking with the moto of all or nothing I really did push it today as a result I think I banged my head about 3 times ( who knows it was once too many :P ) all on really stupid things though, not where I was actually trying new stuff. Strange. But me pushing it was securely having switch down even though im like beginner slow haha and powder tree runs. All good fun! though another close call with the tree runs resulting in a scratch on my waist and nearly falling down a hole haha.

Annoyingly, what this image fails to show is only my toe edge of my board is in snow the rest is just hanging in the air. That and it fails to show any depth as it looks like im standing in snow, whereas I can assure you It was abit of a drop into the tree itself. As I couldnt climb up without sliding down a tree branch and a Tarzan swing got me moving again haha. The random places I end up.

This is the remainder of the tree run after my "mishap", what line I took, I dont know as I was jumping off stuff and shooting off all over the place So I have no idea haha.

The clouds were low, but the visibility was great aside from the odd moment where it did whiteout for a couple of minutes, so you either pressed on or waited it out.

 

 

Finally! finally! found some untouched powder, never normally finish work early enough to get out there and make the first lines however today I did. Sadly I only got one decentish picture the others show nothing. but here is my line! (sad I know but I dont care :P)  OH what the picture doesnt show is all the zig zags through the trees, but theyre there, honest!

So that was today Ive said alot and probably told you nothing haha but hey ho, its how it goes. Anyway enjoy these couple of pics I quite like!

 

Fly Like and Eagle

today was hands down, the best day of the season for me so far. twas epic. However as im on the bar and need to work tonights main post will be late. So for now/until then you can enjoy the view from the chalet this morning. Btw, look at the last post and look at the contrast :D gotta keep you interested in this blog somehow so laters!

All or Nothing

Firstly, check out the Xgames tribute to Sarah Burke, very well done! A fitting tribute! http://www.freestyletv.net/xgames/x-games-sarah-burke-tribute/

annoyingly I didnt get up again today, paryl due to it being a total whiteout, not actually seen clouds so low in Morzine yet this season and mostly because I didnt finish work till early afternoon and had to start work again 2 hours later. how shit was that?! whats worse is tomorrow is change over day so I probably still wont see the slopes...that said im getting up early and getting on it just so I can at least try to get out tomorrow. Im going to go insane otherwise!

But this is how low the clouds were in the Zine.

 

Aside from that annoyance my helmet is fixed, well kind of. The chin strap clip is broken as it falls out all the time unless its done up! so just gotta remember that when I take it off, blatantly need a new one but at least I got one till I can afford another. Better still though, I have some shiny new goggles and am going to pick up some wrist gaurds tomorrow, I have a feeling im gonna need them. As im done with cruising around theres a park with my name on it and im gonna go live in it and not leave until I have something worth shouting about. Could be a while there :P Time to get bloody damn good. Its what I came here for.

Anyhow check out my amazing new goggles and the funky box they come in!

 

And finally, just cos, heres Morzine at night.

Mountain High

Why are you reading this?! you should be watching the Xgames! go here and watch dammit. http://www.freestyletv.net/xgames/livestream-x-games-aspen-2012/

Not like I have anything to share I spent the day repairing/servicing my boards as it was sunny and we all know I dont have a high vis lense to see anything so I took a rest day. Basically watched films all day haha. Full recharged ready to kick some ass tomorrow. Oh repaired my helmet too, so one less thing to buy, hurrah!

For the brief moments I was outside in the sun I did see this.

Its a hot air balloon incase you cant tell. Must be amazing to be in that on a today like today. Just abit jealous! anyway the xgames! go! watch now.!

I should be so lucky

just a quickie as I want to go out! My helmet is fooked, tried removing the buckle and chin strap and it just all fell to pieces so I will be buying a new one on top of new goggles! becoming a damn costly month this, only wanted to buy bindings!! least I have my new goggles lined up, arrive in attack attack on friday so fingers crossed its still cloudy tomorrow haha, so far so lucky...though I use that loosely as my luck had blatantly gone to pot with my goggles and helmet dying on me.

Anyhow my lovely shiny new board is no longer looking so new, still shiny though! it took a battering on a road today (Mont Chery has a run that requires you to go over a road, its basically someones driveway) but that said I was flying and there was bugger all snow on the road resulting in some horrid noises and battle scars. So a repair job is in order in the morning, whats more annoying is it was only waxed last night and Ive got to do it again now!

Oh hell yeah to top it off on the lift home, I apologise to skiers now, nothing against you in the slightest. However, there was a large group of old overweight snobby ass skiers blocking the run off the lift resulting in a skier on the chair before me plowing into a few of them, sending them tumbling like bowling pins. So which that action going on infront I had to try and squeeze round but a kid skiing across the lift line to his dad cut up our chair so everyone tried to stop and I had nowhere to go meaning I was scooped back up on the chair and shoved across till I was able to jump off. Once I was free of the chair the kid was back and I slid out on my ass so I didnt hit him and some poxy ass skier, fitting the same stereotype previously mentioned had the audacity after seeing everything that just happened, to shove his poles in my back moaning how I was in the way and what a stupid place to stop. At this point I had enough so in a nutshell I "politely" told him where he could shove those poles after stabbing me in the back with them, told him to open his eyes and look around at the carnage of people infront of him. As that little spat ended the poor guy that had previously plowed into the skiers was getting full on shouted at by those he took out and the rest of that delightful group. So they also got a mouthful off me about how they are blocking the lift line and that they bloody well deserved it. Turns out they didnt like that and got on there merry way shouting something about youth today ... dictionary definition of C*** twat. Least the guy who took them out was greatful of colourful speech. All about making friends eh :P 

anyway im off out hoping my luck will change so I can win a snowboard. fingers crossed!

That takes the biscuit

Aside from having to get either  a new lense/goggles boh work out just as expensive I know also need to get a new helmet as the chin strap clip has broke. Can I get a replacement? no! can I even remove said knackered clip and add a different type? no! as the blasted thing is permanatly attached to the helmet and cannot be removed, me trying resulted in ripping it from the helmet. So I need new goggles and a new helmet as mine have simultaniously given up on life. fucking wonderful as I can only afford one. So yes I am annoyed to say the least....therefore picture wise is the odds and sods I took today. enjoy :)

Throw your hands to the sky

Been on a hunt for a replacement lense for my goggles and no such luck, no way am I paying or waiting for one from America...screw that. Therefore I guess ill have to buy a new pair tomorrow. what a bitch, so much for trying to save.....Even worse was that it was sunny at times today so alot of hiding in the shadows took place just so I could see!

Anyway! the rain has succesfully destroyed all the snow from the last dump so the conditions are back to how they were, icy and hard, definitely not fun, we needed more snow and its already gone. Thankfully more is coming throughout the week!

However that said the conditions are wierd in general, some runs were like it had just snowed others were like it hadnt snowed for weeks..bizzare. Although that did make for some fun runs on Mont Chery, quiet as always and plenty of untouched snow! Even started my favourite tree run of again as the snowfall did cover it up. Gotta love making the first line :D

Aside from this decided its time I tried out my new board in the park, by that I mean the odd kicker here and there as im still abismal...sigh. Anyway I digress, so never hit a kicker with it before and my favourite kicker in Mont Chery has been made into a green, wtf I thought, get nothing off that, oh how I was wrong! I think I actually flew for abit, that and I had a brief moment of just feeling like I was stalling/Neither going forward or dropping, then I came flying back down onto the piste! was awesome haha so if im pulling off that length of airtime of a little green god knows whats gonna happen when I hit the bigger jumps. Going to be interesting :P

Right, Im ending this post here with a couple of random pics as Im tired. Enjoy.

 

 

 

Oh Damn

My goggle lense has snuffed it. Tried cleaning all the watermarks and fingerpints off with the provided cloth and it took all the coating off. annoying! that said after chatting to some of the stores here whilst on the hunt for a new lense, im not the only one its happened too. Goggle destroying conditions are about :( worse still it was my sunny lense and guess what, its going to be sunny for a while...bugger.

So am currently stuck between buying a new lenses from america...as I cant find them anywhere else or forking out any money I had for new salopets on a new pair here...screwed and annoyed is an understatement. I need new salopets but then I also need to see....what an arse. Any suggestions?

Anyway as promised, the other video snapshots (so the quality is terrible) of the drop off I was doing yesterday..

 

The size is put into perspective now unlike the previous pictures. Go big or go home was my thinking behind this as its the first actual drop off ive done! needless to say I never landed it and by looking at that picture I can see why! no style, no balance, no nothing other than impending fail...ah well lesson learnt. Joys for videos as now I know what I did wrong.

As I said I never landed it, thus all attempts concluded like this...

 

Granted that is after ive flipped over a few times haha, maybe ill share the video sooner rather than later..

Do you see what I see?

absolutely fuck all I hear you say, me too! this is what I mean by a whiteout, this was this morning but it did clear up abit however this was all I could see for a while.

 

The amount of people shouting for their mates asking where thay were was crazy. Did kinda come out of nowhere though but hey ho was all good fun, meant there was plenty of pow to go play in!

So as it was a pow day it meant you could do all manner of daft stuff and land in cotton wool which is brilliant! so we found a 6ft+ drop off (heck of alot higher than me so...) and had some fun! Was amusing to hear the amount of people cheering for you to do it or even just doing it..was good fun! soo heres me hitting the drop off..

 

Needless to say I never actually succesfully landed them :P but the videos of this are being saved for a later date. Tomorrow ill show you the rest ive got but for now its beer time, tooodles!

Is it a bird, is it a plane...

The snow did not come yesterday...well tell a lie it did for about 6 minutes. However, it has come today!! which also meant it was the complete and utter whiteout thus no snowboarding today, all we did was sit and look out the window (had fuck all else to do) anticipating the glory that will be all the fresh pow pow tomorrow. Sooo I shall instead inform you of what we got up to last night...the christmas tree has finally been removed. About time, it had past it plus vacuuming the pine needles everyday was more effort than it was worth.

So the pineless bastard met its end out of the window. As we were sure as hell not gonna carry it through the chalet and clean up afterwards. Handily there is a masive sliding window up stairs so a good hefty swing sent it flying out the window to the balcolny below :D

 

The very window it met its end.

and its final resting place, interestingly it landed very neatly, certainly wasnt a consideration but hey ho least its out of the way for the remainder of the season :D

finally this is  tribute video to Sarah Burke someone has made, definitely worth checking out to show your respects http://vimeo.com/35364829

Ski in Peace.

RIP Sarah Burke

Normally I would post about what ive been up to etc but todays an exception. This post is dedicated to Sarah Burke who has sadly died today as a result of injuries suffered from a crash in the superpipe a few days ago.Full details are here http://www.powdermag.com/stories/sarah-burke-dies-from-injuries/

She was a pioneer of womens Skiing, very talented and always trying to push boundaries. Ie being the first woman to land a 1080 in competition. Its a great lost to the snowsports world. My thoughts are with her family.

RIP Sarah Burke, you shall be missed.

 

A Modern Myth

Fair play to the people that decided to do this..

 

whoever Kyle is, he has to live with this everytime he goes over on the lift until it snows haha. GUTTED! Also kudos to the effort in design, only one set of foot prints, clearly done it before :P

Anyway! today was the first time since I bought my new board at the end of freaking may that I got to ride it and it was amazing! was pretty weird to begin with not used to such a soft or responsive board, the new boots are great as are the bindings, so muxh padding taking the shocks out of jumps now too the point im throwing myself of stuff just to test how well it is working haha. All round its a glorious setup :D so check it out!

its going to be so much fun with all the snow due over the net two days, hurrah! time to get some tricks down methinks.

Right best get back to being bored on the bar, 4 hours and the only person I have served is myself...why is it open on a wednesday? everyone goes out?!!?

Were Wasted

when I mentioned spending a small fortune yesterday when my boots arrived I wasnt joking! got myself some amazing new bindings that sadly set me back 200 euros but I got a t-shirt thrown in, so in theory I got 10% discount haha. Granted they were 133 euros online but I had neither the money nor the patience for them to arrive, Ive waited to ride my new board since june! fuck the money id only spend it on beer haha. So cannot wait to get out tomorrow and enjoy my new setup :D

anyway as Im already merry from watching an irish band in a local bar im ending this post here as im about to go out and continue....so heres the new bindings and t-shirt!

Theyre Here

My boots arrived today! it was like christmas. The gamble paid off as they fit like a dream :D so so comfy! Now I can finally go binding shopping tomorrow which is going to cost a small fortune :( but hey ho least I can finally ride my new board! So check out the sexy beasts that Ive been waiting ages for

 

How amazing are they?! full of lots of padding in all the right places, cannot wait to try them out! There will soon be a pic of my new setup just intime for the massive dump on thursday/fri, HURRAH! until then....

Rewind, Repeat

After last nights uninformative post I figured I should probably do it properly! So yesterday the Burton Park Jam Tour reached Avoriaz which was definitely worth a watch, pretty damn impressive some of the stuff people were pulling off,

That will be me before this season is out! heck before a month from now, snow permitting practice :P

Also did the boarder cross track too, great fun! think may have found my calling with that, Flew down it, cant wait to try it on my new board, will be able to go faster then haha. For those of you who that dont know what boardercross is its, in a nutshell, fast, twisting (imagine constant S shape) track, the proffesional ones however are usually steeper and involve a jump or two. Damn good fun though.

 

All the different levels are the track winding down, it also comes out to a jump onto an airbag too. So glad ive found that as once its up and running ill be hitting that for backflip practice :D cannot wait!

And finally my day was wrapped up with Ice Hockey, Go Morzine Penguins! (sadly we lost but hey ho, good match pulled a few goals back in the last round) and a night in the Cavern. At this very moment people are still recovering....think they need to man up abit. Anyway have a ganders at some pics of the Ice Hockey, the penguins are red just incase you didnt know as well as some other pics I took on my tour.